Hurley-Langton returns as Connacht make four changes for season finale against Zebre
SHAMUS HURLEY-LANGTON returns from injury to start Connacht's final game of the United Rugby Championship season, where they'll be playing for nothing but pride against Zebre in Parma [5pm Saturday, TG4 & Premier Sports].
Hurley-Langton's return to the back row is one of four changes made by Cullie Tucker, with Joe Joyce and Paul Boyle also returning to the pack.
David Hawkshaw's inclusion in midfield, where he'll line up outside Bundee Aki, is the only change in the backs.
'It's not the way we wanted to finish the season, but we owe it to ourselves and the supporters to end the campaign with a win,' Tucker said. 'We also have some departing players and coaches who'll want to finish strongly also.
'Zebre are a good side who have made huge improvements this year – and they'll be keen to finish on a high as well – so for us it's about being accurate, physical and disciplined.'
Connacht
15. Santiago Cordero
14. Shayne Bolton
13. David Hawkshaw
12. Bundee Aki
11. Finn Treacy
10. JJ Hanrahan
9. Ben Murphy
1. Denis Buckley
2. Dave Heffernan
3. Finlay Bealham
4. Josh Murphy
5. Joe Joyce
6. Cian Prendergast (capt)
7. Shamus Hurley-Langton
8. Paul Boyle
Advertisement
Replacements:
16. Eoin de Buitléar
17. Jordan Duggan
18. Jack Aungier
19. Darragh Murray
20. Sean Jansen
21. Matthew Devine
22. Cathal Forde
23. Piers O'Conor
Zebre
15. Jacopo Trulla
14. Scott Gregory
13. Fetuli Paea
12. Damiano Mazza
11. Simone Gesi
10. Giovanni Montemauri
9. Alessandro Fusco
1. Danilo Fischetti (capt)
2. Luca Big
3. Muhamed Hasa
4. Matteo Canali
5. Leonard Krumov
6. Davide Ruggeri
7. Bautista Stavile
8. Giovanni Licata
Replacements:
16. Tommaso Di Bartolomeo
17. Paolo Buonfiglio
18. Juan Pitinari
19. Guido Volpi
20. Giacomo Ferrari
21. Gonzalo Garcia
22. Luca Morisi
23. Enrico Lucchin
Referee: Hollie Davidson [SRU]
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
11 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
BBC presenter and GAA star shares heartbreak of miscarriages and failed IVF in powerful podcast discussion
BBC sports presenter Thomas Niblock has opened up about the heartbreak he and his wife Kirstie have experienced through multiple pregnancy losses. The popular broadcaster revealed the couple have suffered three miscarriages. Advertisement 2 Johnny Glynn of New York revealed his personal heartache in a recent discusiion 2 Oisin McConville, Johnny Glynn and Thomas Niblock opened up on the GAA social podcast Credit: x - @thomasniblock He shared their emotional journey during an episode of the The conversation spurred former Gynn, who is based in New York, revealed that his wife Serena has endured failed IVF rounds and miscarriage heartbreak of their own. Glynn initially retired from inter-county hurling in 2020 after he had had enough of commuting from New York to play for the Galway senior hurlers. Advertisement read more on gaa He briefly returned for Galway 2024 under Henry Shefflin, before returning to represent New York. The player also represented New York in the Connacht football championship in their first-ever championship win against Leitrim in 2023. The 31-year-old captained New York to Former Armagh star Oisin McConville described the episode as a privilege to be part of as both men spoke candidly about loss and grief. Advertisement Most read in GAA Hurling Before Glynn shared his experiences, Niblock opened up about nearly losing his wife during a pregnancy complication. He stated: 'It is not an exaggeration - my family and friends would know this - we were very close to losing Kirstie. 'That shapes you. When you go through something like that, your priorities change. You still want to have children, of course, but when you come that close to losing the person you love, that becomes everything.' He explained that while IVF might be a future option for them, they're still on the path of trying to figure things out with wife Kristie. Advertisement Tipperary GAA star 'had to do live apology on RTE' the day after cursing during All-Ireland interview - He revealed: 'She's a strong person with a good head on her shoulders,' Niblock said. 'But it's still heavy. I'd feel like a hypocrite not putting myself out there, even if it's a bit weird to talk about.' Glynn's experience echoed those sentiments. 'We've had miscarriages. We've had an ectopic pregnancy. We've done multiple rounds of IVF. 'We've just finished our fifth round of IVF transfers and they've all failed so far. Honestly, I don't know how we'll get there - but I know we will. Advertisement 'If one day we have healthy kids, I'll take all these tough years. We'll be fine because we've got each other.' He added that further heartbreak was watching his wife in pain. Glynn adeed: 'It's the one thing I can't fix. And that's a f*****g killer." The pair also reflected on moments where people casually asked them when they were having children. Advertisement Niblock recalled that he fronts up about the past heartbreaks. He added: 'To be honest, we've had three miscarriages.' 'Their face just drops. But I think that's important.' 'When you're in the middle of it, and you don't have kids - you're in a very different place. And the truth is, we don't talk about this enough. It's not normalised. And I include myself in that.' Advertisement He ended with an emotional message as he revealed some different paths that he and his wife may take. 'We're still clinging on to hope - and hope is a powerful thing. If that was gone, we'd start looking at other paths, maybe adoption or fostering, or accepting life without children. 'But whatever happens, me and Kirstie will have a brilliant life. As long as she's there - that's what matters."
RTÉ News
15 hours ago
- RTÉ News
Condensed season gives little time to savour championship
In terms of hurling, this has to be one of the great weekends of the year with three blockbuster games, including two provincial finals, down for decision. Once again, the TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick will be jammed to capacity as over 44,000 people fill every seat and stand on the terraces behind the Ennis Road goals or the City End as we look across at Thomond Park and the Clare hills in the distance. And all of this on a Saturday evening. On Sunday, Croke Park will have an expected attendance of over 30,000 for the Leinster Hurling Final between Kilkenny and Galway, which will be preceded by the much anticipated clash between Kildare and Laois in the Joe Mc Donagh Cup Final. All three games will be televised live by RTÉ and there will be commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. The 'Split Season' has its supporters and its detractors, but when we have three crucial games being played between a Saturday evening and a Sunday afternoon on one weekend, it really highlights the impact the condensed calendar is having. Nobody involved - from players, managers, officials, fans, or those of us who work in the media - have the time or the space to actually savour and enjoy the championships any more. There is little or no time to analyse in some depth the learnings from games last weekend or preview matches coming down the tracks. In the past, the summer really belonged to the GAA, but with the 'Split Season' in operation, this has dramatically changed. The GAA is in direct competition in terms of media coverage with other sports who fully deserve their coverage by RTÉ and other media outlets. Last Tuesday, I filmed in Croke Park interviews with Galway's Cathal Mannion, Kilkenny's Adrian Mullen, David Dooley from Laois and Paddy McKenna, the Kildare goalkeeper, and my report previewing the Leinster Hurling Final and Joe Mc Donagh Cup Final was broadcast on Tuesday evening on the Six One News. This evening, I will be broadcasting live from Bruree in Co Limerick - very close to the Cork border - where I will be interviewing two former stars, TJ Ryan and Pat Mulcahy, as we look ahead to tomorrow's Munster Hurling Final, which has traditionally been one of the biggest games of the year. We only have limited space and time in the bulletin. The sports news will also have my colleague Tony O'Donoghue reporting live from the Aviva Stadium on the Republic of Ireland v Senegal soccer friendly, Leinster v Glasgow in the United Rugby Championship, the Women's Nations League Draw which involves our Republic of Ireland team in a promotion/relegation play off, The French Open tennis championship, the Tenerife and Canadian Golf Open, the Epsom Oaks in racing and me and the lads in Bruree talking about tomorrow's Munster Hurling Final. Do you get my point? It's a crowded market and the GAA is a huge part of that market but it's still very busy. In the past the Munster and Leinster Hurling Finals would be played in July with little or no competition in terms of sport to the GAA world. But it's different now. That's just one negative but a very big negative. And it's not just us in RTE that find the situation challenging but other media outlets have the same experiences. The back pages are no longer always dominated by GAA headlines. As I said there's so much going on. Next year there will be a bit more space given between the finals of the Allianz National Leagues and the start of the championships, but it will only be a small window of opportunity. As it stands the All-Ireland Hurling Final next year is on the same day as the World Cup Final which will be played at the MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, near New York. Do you get my point? To be fair and balanced the 'Split Season' has the positive effect of giving club players across the country a clear plan in terms of fixtures, but ultimately most county finals are still not played until the middle or late October so perhaps more space can be given to the hurling championship so that it can be played during the summer months of June and July and extended to at least August and breathe a little. Getting back to this weekend, the timing of the Munster Hurling Final on a Saturday evening at 6pm is not a "normal" time for a GAA match of this gravitas or magnitude. Saturday afternoons in any of our cities means a shopping day for most people so combining that factor with a huge crowd heading to the match means that we all will be travelling very early to the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick and probably log jammed for hours afterwards despite the huge effort of gardaí who always do a great job in moving the traffic as quickly as they can. The hurling people of Ireland are loyal to the game and many would also travel to Croke Park on Sunday if they could to watch Kilkenny v Galway in the Leinster Final, but the reality is that many of them will be turned off by the logistical difficulties they would have to overcome to get there. There is also a strong argument that this match hould be played at a provincial venue like Portlaoise or Tullamore where 30,000 fans attending would bring an electric atmosphere to the occasion. The same number of people in Croke Park will mean a more than half empty stadium which won't add in any way to the atmosphere around the ground, or have that visual impact that a full venue would have for the people in attendance or the hundreds of thousands watching on television. Leinster Council has shown great vision this year with some of its calls so perhaps the decision to move the Leinster Hurling Final out of Croke Park in 2026 might be considered in its review later this year. The weekend pictures on the TV and the difference between the scenes in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick tomorrow evening and Croke Park on Sunday might just persuade everyone that it's the right thing to do.
The 42
16 hours ago
- The 42
'I wasn't feeling sorry for myself': Cancer treatment, managing New York, and facing neighbour Mickey Harte
ON HIS WAY to the emergency room in a New York hospital in March, Ronan McGinley knew he had been kidding himself. Abdominal pains. Indigestion. What? For a couple of weeks? One morning the pain became too much to bear. He was absolutely swamped with work. He was swamped at home too, with his wife Kerri very busy in her career and their son, Tomás. And then there was getting New York ready for the Connacht championship. He hadn't time to be sick. It was nine days out from the Galway game. He hadn't time to be sick. Management were ready. The players were ready. They had put in a shift. It wasn't the time. But when has cancer ever asked for the right time? ***** Growing up on the family farm on the Whitebridge Road just outside Ballygawley, Ronan McGinley was the youngest of seven brothers to Terry and Deirdre; two of whom, Enda and Cormac, were part of the Tyrone team that delivered three All-Irelands in the 2000s. Ronan played for Errigal Ciarán but knew that a life away from home was his preference. He relocated to New York. The Rockland GAA club and the New York county team became his sporting outlets. He then spent a few years coaching and helping with the management in a backroom capacity when his playing days wound down. Ronan McGinley marking Shane Walsh. Andy Marlin / INPHO Andy Marlin / INPHO / INPHO Let's get back in the emergency room though. A scan revealed a blockage in the colon. A colonoscopy the following day went exploring right up to the point it found a large tumour blocking up his colon. As samples were sent away and plans to plot his next few steps were made, he kept going, kept turning up at New York training. He told the rest of the management team, but not the players. 'I decided it was going to be a distraction for the players ahead of the Galway game,' he says. The skirl of the bagpipes led the two teams out onto the Gaelic Park pitch on 6 April, in the quirkiest of GAA settings. The hype-ometer needle was in the red. Stars and stripes mixed with tricolours and Galway flags. The Two Johnnies were in the crowd doing their thing. Matthew Tierney had a goal within five minutes. Hot damn! Despite that, New York reeled off three consecutive points before half-time to leave them right in the game at the break. With twenty minutes to go, Galway took over. No shame, no disgrace. New York players were given a week off. When they came back into training on the following Tuesday night, McGinley had to tell them. 'I knew I would be going for surgery and knew I would be off my feet for a period of time,' he says. 'It's not something you can hide from the group when the manager is not there and I wanted to keep them informed. 'I'm sure it was a bit of a shock to the lads. But to be fair, everybody kept going and the management divvied out responsibilities in terms of bits and pieces that I was doing for whenever I was leaving before the surgery.' Advertisement Before that, he had people he could lean on. Having been part of previous New York backroom teams, he's been immersed in Gaelic football and coaching. He and Enda are close and after managing Errigal Ciarán to county and Ulster titles before the All-Ireland club final defeat to Cuala, the next GAA engagement Enda had was to take a couple of training sessions for New York in The Bronx. Ken Sutton / INPHO Ken Sutton / INPHO / INPHO His work as a physio in Craigavon Area Hospital and assisting in surgeries has led to a close relationship with the former Armagh player, Dr Kevin McElvanna who is a specialist in this area of cancer. 'Whenever I was diagnosed first and bits and pieces of big results were coming back, I obviously wasn't sure of the surgical plan, or treatment plan,' outlines Ronan. 'After two phone calls I was talking to Kevin, when he just talked me through it in a language that I understood. 'So, whenever I was sitting in the doctors out here and they were explaining stuff, I wasn't overawed by what they were saying. It was kind of like, okay, well that's exactly what Kevin was saying. 'It just gave me reassurance, you know, he was very good with his time, to take the time and go through that with me. And that's the power of the GAA community. In terms of somebody always knows somebody, and they're willing to help out.' And then there were the calls home. His mother Deirdre, retired from teaching in the local St Ciaran's school, has had several experiences with cancer. It wasn't great news to be sharing. Especially out here. It's difficult, not being at home and not being around to talk, with her experience, you know what I mean? 'She has a very sort of clear perspective on it – that it's all manageable. Talk you through the steps to figure it out. It was very considered.' He went in for surgery on 2 May. They removed 90% of his colon. His body functions off the remainder now. 'There were secondary grey areas where they found cancer as well, apart from the large tumour, so that's why they decided to take as much as they could,' he says. He spent two weeks in hospital and the recovery wasn't particularly straightforward. He was on no food or water for five days, losing over two stone overall. He ended up being fed through a tube into his stomach. With 10% remaining, the colon still serves the same function as before, just with more frequency. 'I've got results back now, that it was stage two cancer. It was confined to the colon, which means that long term, it's more monitoring than having to go for chemotherapy or radiotherapy,' McGinley says. Ronan McGinley in action against Sligo in the 2012 Connacht championship. Ed Mulholland / INPHO Ed Mulholland / INPHO / INPHO The advantages of early detection. He will be very closely monitored with three or four comprehensive checks a year. He might have to change his diet, something he'll figure out as he goes along. He got out of hospital on 14 May, a Thursday. Five days later he showed up for a New York training session. 'I wasn't worth much on the Tuesday night, but I wanted to get back at it. Doing what I could. 'I didn't want to be wallowing or doing anything like that. But I pushed myself to get back, to get back into the football and get back in the routine.' They're a stoic lot, the McGinleys. When we talk to him, he leaves his desk at work to take the call. He's the Chief Operating Officer at Coyle Construction. Their offices are in midtown Manhattan, the halfway point between the Empire State Building and the Rockefeller Centre. He could take a dander over to Central Park for his lunch break if he so chooses. It's a long way from the Whitebridge Road. But all the same, work? Really? Is he going for Employee of the Month? 'Well…' he explains, 'Kerri actually now is the owner of the company. 'In the middle of all this unrest, we were purchasing the company. Or Kerri was. 'That's her background, her family have a civil engineering company back home that I worked with; McFadden Civils. That's how we met, we ended up working together and whenever she came in as a partner in this company, I came in to work alongside her and then now she is the owner. 'Like when I was in the hospital, I had the laptop open doing bits and pieces, keeping the mind occupied. 'I think it definitely helped me. I know when I got home from the hospital I was on the sofa and I was afraid to move, I was so sore. But that nearly made things worse, not moving and not getting up.' He continues, 'To be fair to Kerri, she was she was dealing with a hell of a lot. She was dealing with the purchase of the company, she was dealing with me being in the hospital, looking after Tomás. A serious woman to do it all at the same time.' Help came from other sources. The people of Rockland GAA came to visit. They called in with Kerri and checked what she needed. His backroom team in New York kept him going. He was glad to have all the distractions. Emotionally, he's had to be patient with himself. You get that initial shock from the diagnosis. And then, for me it was kind of like breaking it down into, 'Right, I have to prep for surgery and then have the surgery and then, you know, recovery from the surgery and long term down the road…' 'It was just trying to compartmentalise it a little bit. Break it down into stages that I could work through,' he says. 'Kerri was very direct in terms of like, 'You have something you have to be getting out for, you've a Tailteann Cup that you want to go home for. You can't be doing those things if you're lying in the bed. You've got to be up, you've got to be going.' 'She can put stuff in perspective, made sure that I wasn't feeling sorry for myself. In one way I was lucky that the surgery went well, everything (went) the way it was meant to go. 'I'm lucky in that long-term treatment isn't necessary. Being at stage two, it's not the worst outlook, there's people out there obviously are going through a lot worse. 'I have to be thankful for that, and make sure that as much as I can take the goodness that I've got out of it.' On Wednesday night, the New York travelling party flew east to Dublin, landing on Thursday morning. The rest of the day was about getting acclimatised to the time difference and flushing the flight out of their legs. The plan on Friday was to gain access to O'Connor Park, Tullamore for a bit of a kick-around and get used to the pitch ahead of meeting Offaly in the Tailteann Cup on Saturday. And then, for the first time as manager, Mickey Harte (along with Declan Kelly) will come up against a New York team, managed by his club mate. Ronan played for Harte previously at St Ciaran's school. With the club, he was 17 when Harte took on Errigal for one season before becoming the Tyrone manager. He also took the Errigal U21 team, where Ronan got to line out alongside Enda who was in his final year at that level. They won that championship, beating an Owen Mulligan-inspired Cookstown in the final. The roads both have taken to this point have been mazy and complicated. Harte has had his own cancer experiences for two years between 2015 and 2017. The New York lads haven't missed their chance and are ribbing McGinley with the quip that between the two managers, they have three All-Ireland titles. But after all the tight handshakes and the catch-ups, a ball will be thrown in and the footballers of New York will play the footballers of Offaly. 'I've been very good in terms of making sure that we keep the thing going on, to play a game, whether I was going to be there or not,' says McGinley. 'We want the players to perform as well as they can. And because for them, you know, this is their opportunity in a county jersey, their opportunity in Ireland, and I would rather focus on that, than my own thing, like. Because everybody is going through stuff. 'Unfortunately, cancer affects most people's families, you know what I mean. 'You have to be grateful. Like, not grateful. Grateful sounds weird in this context. But it could be worse, maybe a worse diagnosis, it could be worse. 'It's about doing as much as I can, when I can, you know? Because you never know what's coming or you never know what's down the line. 'Make the best of it now when you're at it.'
